


As Above, So Below

by Quantin_of_the_Lethe



Category: SCP Foundation
Genre: Confinement (SCP), Demonic Possession, Elder God, Gen, Meeting a god, thalassophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28707618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quantin_of_the_Lethe/pseuds/Quantin_of_the_Lethe
Summary: Connor has been chosen to participate in the Atzak Protocol, and gets way more than he bargained for.
Relationships: Connor/Natalie (Confinement)
Kudos: 11





	As Above, So Below

Connor had been through a _lot_ of garbage in his life, sometimes literal. He'd died in every conceivable possible way, to the point where 99.9% of the time, he wasn't really scared of it anymore. The idea that death could be _permanent_ was sort of omnipresent, but more as a nightmare scenario than a possibility that could happen. But this time, as he waited on a dock in Chennai for the _Eremita_ to arrive, he was actually afraid. He knew where he was going, what he was going to be doing. He knew what this thing did to people's brains. Being a Night Fisherman was an extremely rare and glamorous assignment. Who knew that the most prestigious job in the Foundation, aside from the O5 Council themselves, was collecting mucus? But weirdly, it made sense. It had the lowest fatality and injury rate of any MTF unit in the Foundation, but the injuries people would come back with were far worse than broken bones.

He'd been briefed on his purpose for this, of course. He remembered the day he'd been brought in for the meeting. He knew something was up when a bunch of bigwigs were there, too. Usually this responsibility was passed onto one of the lower peons.

His mind wasn't really _anywhere_ as the sub made its way to the Ganges Fan. He kept trying to think of it as ripping off a bandage, but the gravity of it all wouldn't let him. This wasn't ripping off a bandage. This was a potentially life-threatening mission, and he didn't usually have to worry about 'life-threatening'. But such a powerful neurocognitive disruptor...he didn't want to know how it would interact with him, or rather, _it_.

The entire time, he kept glancing at the poor soul in the back, wearing an orange jumpsuit like his own. D-2442. He was strangely calm.

"Uh," Connor cleared his throat. "Hey."

The D-class nodded. "Hey."

"You're, uh...pretty relaxed about all this."

He shrugged. "At least I know I won't feel it. I consider myself lucky, in a way."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. If I'm going to be eaten alive by a giant snake with psychic powers, I don't wanna feel it, ya know? If anything, you have the worst cut in this whole operation."

Connor gulped. "Why do you say that?"

"Listen, we all know who you are. You're famous. The D-class who can't die. The Crash Test Dummy. These people--"--he gestured to the other personnel--"--will all die eventually. Some tomorrow. Some in five years. Some in twenty. But you, you can't. You remember things you've done even after the whole regeneration thing, right? So you're going to live with the thought of this thing forever. It's always gonna be there. I've heard stories of these guys, they get back and even though their memories are fine, they still see the snake in their dreams. When it comes to the Eel Goddess, it never leaves. Frankly, I'd rather be eaten then have to see this thing every night."

"Eel...Goddess?"

The D-class smirked. "Look, anything that big and powerful has to be a god, right? I just think goddesses are cooler."

"So how are you--"

"--coping? I'm just living with it, man. I've made my peace. I said my goodbyes to the other guys. In terms of where my life could be going, eel food is not a bad way to go."

Connor wished he had this guy's calmness. "Yeah, I, uh...I can't say I'm not scared."

"Yeah? I would be, too, in your shoes."

"ATZAK, STAGE ONE!" one of the agents shouted. "D-2442! It's time."

"I gotta go," he said. "I'd say 'see you on the other side', but..." and with a hearty laugh he left Connor sitting there.

"Frankly, I'd rather be eaten then have to see this thing every night." Connor couldn't stop feeling like something was going to happen. If interacting with SCP-3000 changed everyone who got near it, he was not immune to that. Regenerative immortality did not protect him from trauma, God knows. Nat could tell him that.

Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours. Soon, there came the barking order, "ATZAK, STAGE TWO!"

He got dressed into the suit. "You ready, Connor?" his captain asked.

"No."

"Not much you can do about that, now, is there? It's go time, baby." And through the airlock they plunged into the murky blackness below.

* * *

[[S]: As Above, So Below](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnjjTJlBAw4)

If Connor hadn't had a fear of the deep before, he certainly did now.

His first observation was how _dark_ it was. They were guided only by their headlamps that barely even cut into the mere vastness of the deep ocean. _This is what astronauts must feel like on spacewalks,_ he thought. _Only we know more about space than this place._

"She's just ahead, guys!" came their operator. "Be careful!"

Then he felt it. A premonition. Something was nearby. Something _huge._

And then he heard it.

_The little creatures of this world are rather bold to send an Old One to my court._

Connor had no idea how to respond. Thankfully, _he_ didn't have to.

 _This business does not concern you, Anantashesha,_ he responded involuntarily. Only, it wasn't _him_. It was _it_.

That response roused the eel. She stared at Connor with her giant eyes, boring into the deepest parts of his subconscious. _Now, what kind of business does **not** concern me here, Azazel? Did they not send you here to battle me?_

_They don't even know of my existence, this **boy** is only just figuring it out and he's been mine for 20 years. This is the boy's mission. Not mine._

_Fine, then let me converse with him._

_I...don't think that's a good idea. His brain is fragile._

_HEY!_ Connor cut in. _I've been through a **lot** of shit! No thanks to **you**._

 _Oooh, he's got spunk,_ Anantashesha replied with a hint of sass. Connor felt _it_ retreat, leaving the eel's voice alone in the void.

 _Uh, hello,_ Connor said. _It's, uh, nice to meet you?_

Silence.

_I'm, uh, not sure what the point of thi--_

_I have been here since the beginning of things, and will be here beyond the end of things. The lives of little creatures do not concern me. But you...you are different from them. You are face to face with creatures blind and terrible in the depths of man's mind, and you're able to comprehend what I'm saying. This is thanks to the demon inhabiting you._

_The...the **WHAT?**_ Connor thought. Anantashesha either didn't hear him, or ignored him.

_So because you're able to hear me, I'm going to warn you, that you, your "Foundation", your politicians and warlords and exploiters, have no idea what they're doing. **You** may be face to face with creatures blind and terrible, but **I'm** just the beginning. And there are beings much less blind and more terrible than me. I know that humans are fascinated with the unknown and their endless quest to understand, but that eternal drive has a price. There are things that for the good of your kind can **not** be exposed. You must tell your supervisors this, the people who assigned you this mission. Your kind depends on it._

_Do you...do you hate humans?_ Connor asked.

Anantashesha made a sound that almost sounded like a hum. _No, boy, I do not. I survive. They feed me humans, so I eat humans. But I do not hate humans, for humans are such a minute blip in the vastness of my mind that it barely registers with me. But as great as I am, that cannot be applied to your worldview. You should be aiming to make your world safer and better for the next humans, and the humans after that, and after that. It's strange, how often the humans that come to me do so with deep feelings of hatred towards other humans that I cannot fathom. If your existence is but a blip, why spend it destroying? Why spend it exploiting? It's a strange thought to me, I ponder it rather often._

 _I do too, honestly,_ he responded.

_Indeed. Misanthropy is a disease, and will be your species' downfall. You careen towards a future of unknown horror and that can't be averted unless humanity gets past exploitation and hatred. A symbiosis with nature, an embracing of the unknown and strange. It is a necessity._

_What...what horrors are you talking about?_

_Now, it wouldn't really be fun if I told you the answer, now, would it?_ she replied. _Seriously, why does it matter? The idea that humans will be in grave danger should be motivation enough. When in doubt...meditate. Access your mind._

_After today, I'm not sure I want to._

_Are you afraid of Him?_

_Yes._

_You're strong to admit that._

_I don't feel strong, I feel traumatized._

Anantashesha made another humming noise. _They've abused you rather badly, haven't they? Pitiful species. Treating other like this. It's time for us to part ways, Connor. Farewell._

"Connor!" came his teammate. "You doing okay? I got the samples and I think she's done, let's go back before something funky happens."

"Yeah," he said listlessly. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"You wanna talk about it?" Natalie asked later that week.

Connor just sat there. Anantashesha's words echoed in his head like they happened yesterday.

"There's a lot to talk about."

"Not like we have anywhere to be."

_I can't tell her._

"She spoke to me. Anantashesha."

"Woah."

"Yeah, apparently that's never happened before. The crew were pretty, pretty shocked."

"What'd she talk to you about?"

"She...she warned me. That humanity's delving too deep towards unknown horrors. That we're all going to end up dead unless we learn to stop hating each other and start embracing the unknown." He felt tremendously guilty in not telling her the whole truth about what had happened, but the consequences of what could happen were too great. _Eventually,_ he thought.

"Think we should take it higher up?"

"I don't know if we have a choice," he said. "She said the future of our species is at stake."

"They're not gonna believe you."

"They have to. It's not like we have a choice."

She plopped down next to him. "Well, I'd rather ride out this future with you than without, eel boy."

"Please, Nat, don't call me that."

"Eel Boy," she said, grinning. As she slipped her hand into his, the perfect mental harmony was ever so briefly ruined by a deep rumbling, as if Anantashesha herself was swimming through his mind.

 _Goodnight, my hero,_ her voice said. _When swimming in the dark, make sure not to get lost. Who knows what lurks in the deep waters of the mind?_

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been meaning to write this for...an awful long time now. I have no idea if it's any good, I just wanted to get it out.


End file.
